NATIONAL INTERTRIBAL TAX ALLIANCE
13th ANNUAL TAX CONFERENCE

Tamaya Resort and Spa
Albuquerque, New Mexico

September 19th- 21st

Download the NITA Registration Form
Download the NITA 2011 agenda

REGISTRATION DETAILS
September 19th Conference Day One:
7:55 am – 12:00 pm – Golf Tournament at Twin Warriors (Tamaya Resort & Spa)
2:00 pm – 5:00 pm – NITA Conference Registration and Special Workshops
6:00 pm – 9:00 pm – Reception at Tamaya Resort

September 20th Conference Day Two
Tax Litigation Update
Federal Tobacco Taxes, PACT Act Issues and Implementation
Telecommunication Taxes for Tribes
Energy and Tribal Economic Development

September 21st Conference Day Three
IRS Update
Legislative Tax Update
Negotiating Tribal-State Compacts
Tribal Tax Codes and Tax Commissions

Room Rate of $77.00/per night
1-505-867-1234
Below is a link to the Tamaya Resort and Spa
https://resweb.passkey.com/Resweb.do?mode=welcome_gi_new&groupID=3545505

*CONFERENCE Registration is $425.00 by Aug 31st
(Or $375.00 per person for Group of 3 or more after)
$450.00 for Registration in September
*For Golf Tournament Registration contact: John Bighorse at 918-287-5382 or jbighorse@osagetribe.org (Golf fee is $116.59 per person)

CONFERENCE AGENDA
September 19, 2011 Monday

7:55 – 12:00 GOLF TOURNAMENT at Twin Warriors Golf Club (Tamaya Resort)

2:00 – 5:00 REGISTRATION
Contact: Kimberly Soliano, (918-688-7622 or KSoliano@osagetribe.org)

2:00 – 5:00 Pre-Conference Workshops
–Drafting Tribal Tax Codes and Structuring Tribal Tax Commissions
–Structuring Tribal Educational, Housing and other Governmental Programs to Minimize Tax Costs to Tribal Members [Mary Streitz and Kathleen Nilles]

6:00 – 9:00 RECEPTION – Tamaya Resort and Spa (location to be determined)

September 20, 2011 Tuesday

8:00 – REGISTRATION

8:00-8:30 CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST (for all Conference Registrants)

8:30-9:00 FLAG PRESENTATION
WELCOME — TBD
OPENING PRAYER — TBD
OPENING REMARKS
Mary Mashunkashey (Tax Administrator, Osage Nation Tax Commission, and Chairman, National Intertribal Tax Alliance)

9:00 – 9:45 KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (invited) (Topic—TBD)

9:45 – 10:30 TAX LITIGATION UPDATE –Moderator: Kelly Croman (General Counsel, Marine View Ventures). Speakers: Tom Schlosser (Attorney, Morriset, Schlosser Ayer & Jozwiak); Skip DuRocher (Dorsey & Whitney LLP).

10:30-10:45 BREAK

10:45-12:00 STRATEGIES AND ISSUES in STATE TAXATION OF INDIAN COUNTRY TRANSACTIONS. Moderator: Paul Shagen, Lead Attorney, Lac Courte D’Oreille. Speakers, Alix Foster, Legal Counsel, Swinomish Tribe; William Wood, Research Fellow, University of California at Los Angeles.

12:00 – 1:15 LUNCH (provided for all Conference Registrants)—Luncheon Presentation—Susan Williams, Esq. (Tribal Taxation as an Exercise of Tribal Sovereignty)

1:15 – 2:45 BREAK OUT SESSIONS A AND B

A. FEDERAL TOBACCO TAXES, PACT ACT AND REGULATIONS
Moderator: Dale White, General Counsel, Ohserase Manufacturing, LLC. Panelists: Scott Wheat; Cory Albright; et al

B. TELECOMMUNICATION TAXES FOR TRIBES
Moderator: Randal Evans, Esq.

2:45 – 3:00 BREAK

3:00—4:00 BREAK OUT SESSIONS C AND D

C. TRIBAL TRUST ACCOUNTS AND RELATED TAX ISSUES
Moderator: Gigi Modrich, Esq., Holland & Knight. Speakers: Vince Logan, and others to be determined.

D. TRIBAL TAXES: HOW TO MAXIMIZE REVENUE
Moderator:

4:15 – 5:30 RENEWABLE ENERGY and TRIBAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Moderator: Bruce Zimmerman (Tax Director, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla). Speakers: Tracey LeBeau, U.S. Department of Energy; former Senator Byron Dorgan, Doug MacCourt (Ater Wynne)

DINNER ON YOUR OWN

September 21, 2011 Wednesday

8:00 – 8:30 CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST (for all Conference Registrants)

8:35 PRAYER –

8:45 -9:45 IRS UPDATE
Kathleen Nilles (Partner, Holland & Knight)
Christie Jacobs (National Director, Office of Indian Tribal Governments, Internal Revenue Service); Joe Lenihan, IRS ACT Committee; Wendy Pearson, IRS ACT Committee.

9:45 – 10:00 BREAK

10:00 – 11:00 FEDERAL and STATE TAX POLICY UPDATE by National Congress of American Indians

Jacqueline Johnson Pata and John Dossett (National Congress of American Indians)

11:15-12:00 TOPIC TO BE DETERMINED

12:00 – 1:30 LUNCH (provided for all Conference Registrants)
Luncheon Presentation–TBD

1:30 – 2:45 NEGOTIATING TRIBAL-STATE TAX COMPACTS (panel)

Kelly S. Croman-Neelands (General Counsel, Marine View Ventures); John Fredericks (Partner, Fredericks, Peebles & Morgan )

2:45 – 3:00 BREAK

3:00 – 3:45 PLANNING FOR NEXT YEAR’S CONFERENCE

3:45 – 4:00 ADJOURN – CLOSING PRAYER

Verona, NY — When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that the Oneida Indian Nation had to pay property taxes, much of Madison and Oneida counties rejoiced.

A federal appeals court on Tuesday, however, stripped the counties of the power to actually collect those taxes.

A panel of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals said that, while the tribe might owe taxes, it can’t be taken to court because it’s sovereign. That means the nation can ignore tax bills without the fear of facing court proceedings as other delinquent landowners might.

“The (Oneida nation) is immune from suit under the long-standing doctrine of tribal sovereign immunity,” wrote Judge Robert Sack. “The remedy of foreclosure is therefore not available to the counties.”

Sack’s two colleagues on the panel, Jose Cabranes and Peter Hall, recognized the seeming contradiction.

“This rule of decision defies common sense,” they wrote in a concurring decision. “But absent action by our highest Court, or by Congress, it is the law. In the last twenty years, the Supreme Court has twice held that, although states may have a right to demand compliance with state laws by Indian tribes, they lack the legal means to enforce that right.”

For his part, Sack resorted to a nursery rhyme to explain the predicament of the counties to enforce a law they have no real power to enforce:

“Mother, may I go out to swim?

Yes, my darling daughter

Hang your clothes on a hickory limb

And don’t go near the water.”

Joe Singer, a Harvard Law School professor and expert on federal Indian law, said he understands why people might view the 2nd Circuit decision as contradictory, but he said judges were following the law of the land as laid out by the Supreme Court.

“I think it’s literally four times in the past 15 years that the Supreme Court has repeated that tribes have sovereign immunity,” Singer said. “The Supreme Court has been very vehement in making tribal sovereignty part of the law.”

Five years ago, it seemed to residents of Sherrill that the Supreme Court had finally forced the Oneidas to pay up.

“This is an exciting day in the history of Sherrill,” City Manager David Barker said the day of the ruling, March 29, 2005. “Our concern all along has been the unknown. And now we have some finality.”

The Sherrill case was finally settled when the Oneidas agreed to pay taxes for five years. That agreement expires this fall.

As the 2nd Circuit decision shows, however, there is little in the way of finality. Sack suggested the counties could ask Congress to intervene; Cabranes and Hall urged the Supreme Court to revisit the cases the judges said they were bound to follow.

David Vickers, president of Upstate Citizens for Equality, a citizens group that has opposed Oneida and Cayuga Indian land claims, said he hopes the counties will appeal to the Supreme Court.

“I think this decision is a fairly likely decision for review at the Supreme Court level,” Vickers said. “I would not be at all surprised if the (Chief Justice John) Roberts court says, ‘We need to take this and decide on it once and for all.’”

The Oneida nation owns more than 17,000 acres in the two counties. In 2008, the federal Department of Interior agreed to take about 13,000 acres into trust, where the land would become free from state and local laws and taxes. That decision is being held up in court cases.

If that land is put into trust, Tuesday’s decision would apply to the remaining 4,000 acres of land, which includes nine SavOn gas stations and convenience stores.

Oneida nation spokesman Mark Emery issued an e-mail statement saying the nation was pleased with Tuesday’s ruling.

“Now that the court has resolved the issue once and for all, it is time to move forward and put the disputes behind us,” Emery wrote.

The counties can ask that the entire 2nd Circuit review the decision. If that fails, the last resort would be an appeal to the Supreme Court.

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